By COLE SINANIAN  | news@queensledger.com

Bargoers packed into Willow’s Tavern in Ridgewood last Thursday evening for Ridgewood History Night, the Queens edition of a popular Greenpoint series that has locals give often humorous, always lighthearted presentations about an interesting aspect of their neighborhood’s past.

The evening featured presentations on the historic Ridgewood Theater, which was the oldest continuously open theater in America when it closed in 2008, and the influential architect who  designed it, Thomas W. Lamb, as well as world-famous magician and one-time Ridgewoodian Harry Houdini,  the ancient Fresh Pond trail once used by the indigenous Mespeatches people, and the neighborhood’s own wacky hyperlocal newspaper, the Ridgewood Times.

The tavern was dressed with holiday lights and packed to the brim with patrons sipping Guinnesses and Peronis, a warm respite from the frigid gusts of the December evening. Talking through her Google Slides presentation to a packed tavern, Ridgewoodian Courtney Howard traced the history of the Ridgewood Times, a once-beloved hyperlocal newspaper. An article from the 1920s, for example, documented how residents of Middle Village wanted  to change the neighborhood’s name to “Middle Town,” since it had grown too large to be referred to as a village.

Under the editorship of Carl Clemens in the 1940s, the Ridgewood Times became the largest weekly newspaper in the country. The offices were located at the intersection of Cypress, Myrtle and Cornelia streets, an area now known as the Clemens Triangle.

“If you can guess what the Ridgewood Times building is now, I might just buy you a shot,” Howard said. The answer, perhaps unexpectedly, is a dollar store. But Howard explained that she could find few archives of the Ridgewood Times from the 1930s, which she revealed was likely because the neighborhood had by that point become a hotbed of Nazi activity. She quoted a New York Times article from April 1934 headlined “Fists Fly at Rally of 9,000 Nazis,” about an event that had taken place at the Ridgewood Grove Arena. Counterprotesters included a mix of communists and Jewish-American war veterans.

The “history night” series is the brainchild of Greenpointer Rick Paulas, who, as a bartender at Oak and Iron Tavern in Greenpoint, began hosting Greenpoint History Night as a way to get people into his bar. The series has since garnered a cult following, with Greenpoint locals as well as wayward travelers from distant lands such as Maspeth, Ridgewood, Bushwick, and Bed-Stuy packing into Oak and Iron on history nights (usually held on Wednesdays), getting tipsy as they listen to wacky stories about their neighborhood told in a register somewhere between lecture and stand-up comedy.

So popular is the series that Paulas decided to take it on tour. History Night made stops in Bushwick on November 13, Astoria on November 20, and finally Ridgewood on Thursday, the last stop on the tour. Paulas, however, urged spectators to steal his idea.

“This is a concept that somebody besides me should run with,” Paulas said. “I do not live in Ridgewood, I live in Greenpoint. But this should hopefully give you an example of what something like this is.”

Courtesy Freepik 

Cole Sinanian

Attorney General Letitia James announced December 10 that five people had been indicted for bribery and money laundering schemes they had used at JFK airport to manipulate Delta Airlines into signing contracts with the cargo companies they owned.

James revealed in a press release that a major investigation by her office and the Port Authority of New York had led to an array of charges against Raymond Kayume, Joseph Puzzo, Irfan Syed, Beau Baer, and a fifth unnamed co-conspirator, including commercial bribery, money laundering, conspiracy, and scheme to defraud.

The accused allegedly bribed high-ranking Delta employees at JFK using  fraudulent invoices and cash payments. In one scheme, Syed — Chief Executive Officer of Jet Way Security and Investigations and Jet Way Aviation Services — Baer, who also works for Jet Way, and an unnamed executive at the air cargo company Alliance Ground International (AGI) allegedly paid a Delta employee $8,000 every quarter in exchange for ensuring continued contracts with Delta. James’ office reported that the three created a false $25,000 invoice to make it appear that there was a legitimate payment from AGI to Jet Way, then split the money three ways. This went on from January 2018 to January 2023, and culminated in a total of $375,000  in fraudulent invoice payments.

In another scheme, Joseph Puzzo, manager of gas canister company American Compressed Gases, allegedly paid two-three dollars per canister sold to a JFK Delta employee in order to ensure continued business for his company. Puzzo would send the payments to a third-party company, which would keep half the money, then send the rest to the Delta employee through rent checks for office space that didn’t exist.

“When businesses bribe their way into lucrative contracts, everyday New Yorkers can suffer the consequences of worse service and higher costs,” said Attorney General James. “These bribery schemes impacted critical shipping services at one of the busiest airports in the nation. These individuals repeatedly broke the law, but today we are shutting down their pay-to-play schemes and holding them accountable.”